News & analysis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, by Matthew Stiegler

Court explains how attorney active/inactive-status will work — important emails going out Friday [updated]

The Third Circuit yesterday posted this announcement on its website to give details on the procedure for the attorney-status framework that the court enacted as part of its revisions to the attorney-discipline rules last July. Under the new framework, any attorney who has not entered her appearance within the last five years (note that the five years runs from the date the attorney entered her appearance, not the date that the case was closed) will be moved to inactive status (and will be ineligible to practice in the Third Circuit until she successfully applies for reactivation) unless she affirmatively elects to remain on active status.

An email will go out on Friday from the court to those attorneys who are admitted to the Third Circuit bar who have not entered their appearance in the last five years. That email will contain a hyperlink that attorneys can use to elect their status.